My good friend's sister, the beautiful Carolina, brought me and the dogs to a carnival gig recently. It cost about 25 euros for the day and we got to see the famous: Chiclete com Banana (Chewing Gum with Banana) play live in front of about 7,000 passionate fans all wearing, pink or blue tshirts and little or nothing else. On the day it rained very hard which created a surreal WoodStock like atmosphere. Everyone was covered in mud from the waste down and those drunk enough or maybe brave enough to dance or dive around the mud pits looked a little like semi-illuminous ministrels jumping up and down on the slippery rim of a good old fashioned cup of tea. The venue itself was very different to what I am used to when going to Slane or Landsdowne. It was in a big field, about the size of the RDS horse jumping arena. There were two stages. On one the warm up acts, on the other the main act. On either side instead of having your traditional seating arrangements, a bit like a stand at a soccer match, they had what looked to me dancing Louisiana steam boats. These areas were basically more expensive and had canopies over them. When you paid to get in there, maybe another 15 euros, you got some free drink and you got to stay dry. For me the best fun was to be had open air, getting dirty, and mudjumping to some chewing gum and Banana. The music was a bit like a combined Turskish and Spain Eurovision song entry with a cross between Johny Logan and Lenny Kravitz as the lead singer. On the night he was brillant. Great voice. Loads of passion.
Everyone was wearing either a blue or a pink sleeveless tshirt. I got in touch with my pink side. It was a great sight. As far as the eye could see people were jumping around crazyily. Shouting and roaring, punching the air and kissing each other. The constant kissing is the thing i think i will remember most. I thought when the heavens had cracked open and started to pour that it was raining heavily but it was nothing compared to the torrential downpour of kisses that seemed to be falling everywhere. Literally, people were just going up to each other, strangers, and asking for snogs. It went on all night. A man, if focused, slightly inebriated, and with a modium of gusto and a splinter of confidence could easy chalk up a snog-count in the double figures. When i quizzed some of the locals on it afterwards they said it's not untowards to kiss 20 women on the day. They also proudly told me that the real action is at the carnival in February. An occassion i am still berating myself for having missed this year and previous years. It's on my list of must do's (after a lot of biting at my laces, and running around me wildly, tail wagging at light speed I finally caved in and promised Brutos that i'll get him there some day in the future)!
Going home I wripped up the transparent raincoat i had bought for the start of the concert and dumped in my mud baked runners, socks and tshirt. When I got back to the apartment i threw them, the dogs and myself in the shower and proceeded to have one of the best showers i've had in years! And before i went to bed, on newly laid linen, cleaned up and feeling fresh I let a little smile form on my face, closed my eyes and thought once more of the excellent Chiclete com Banana and my own performance on the snogometer?????
